Much more to dengue than just Games

The political leadership and policy makers are yet to recognise that this is a fallout of our economic growth, increasing migration and globalisation.

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Dinesh C Sharma

New Delhi

September 2, 2010

UPDATED: October 11, 2010 17:17 IST

THE LATEST threat looming large over the beleaguered Commonwealth Games comes from a lowly creature - the mosquito.

Reports of sportspersons being bitten by female mosquitoes infected with the deadly virus of dengue are sending shivers down the spine of athletes and officials who are planning to be in Delhi for the games. But this is hardly a surprise.

As far back as last year, officials from the World Health Organisation had warned that Games construction sites are breeding Aedes aegypti mosquitoes - the vectors for dengue viruses.

In fact, dengue has become a seasonal affair in Delhi and some states like Kerala. Increasingly, vectorborne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya - the ones which are transmitted through infected mosquitoes - are occurring more often, affecting more people and causing a lot of strain on the healthcare system.

The political leadership and policy makers are yet to recognise that this is a fallout of our economic growth, increasing migration and globalisation.

In the health sector, we need to undertake round the year surveillance, besides both basic and applied research to understand different viruses and develop new vaccines. For vector control, we need elaborate machinery at various levels. But is too serious a matter to be left to health inspectors and ward officers of local municipalities.

The solution to this problem lies in non- health sectors. We need to examine closely the socio- economic determinants of these diseases, carefully design communication strategies, make regulations and enforce them ruthlessly.

Active involvement of communities at all levels is also a prerequisite.

For instance, sanitation rules should mandate that if mosquitoes are found breeding in any school, hospital, government building, temple or a construction site, the head of the institution- be it a principal or a building contractor - will be fined personally and the fine should be heavy. It is most shameful that the country's premier medical centre - the All India Institute of Medical Sciences - has become a mosquito breeding ground and its staffers are dying of dengue. For long, leftover water in desert coolers has been blamed for mosquito breeding.

Thanks to the economic boom, coolers have been replaced by air conditioners in middle class homes but they have moved to urban villages and slums.

We need communication strategies targeted at these new owners of coolers and water storage tanks.

One suggestion is that one day in a week - perhaps Sunday - be declared a " dry day" when all coolers and tanks are emptied and dried. The same should apply to offices which have drinking water dispensers, potted plants and decorative fountains etc.

By all means, blame the Games for mosquito breeding and expose municipal agencies for the shoddy sanitation work they are doing, but also look around your offices and homes and see what you are doing. Let the war on mosquitoes begin from your doorstep.

Playing Cupid for the sake of biofuel

IT SEEMS that setting right the adverse sex ratio holds the key to solving the fuel problems that might arise in the future in India. And here we are not talking of the falling number of females due to sex selection and female feoticide, but the adverse sex ratio in one of the most promising biofuel crops - jatropha.

In wild jatropha plants, there is just one female flower for about 25 male flowers. This means diesel yield from such plants is bound to be low because it is only the female flowers that mature into fruits from which diesel can be extracted.

Now scientists have started tinkering with the genetics of jatropha to reach the ideal sex ratio of one male to one female.

A Hyderabad- based company, Nandan Biomatrix, has developed a hybrid variety in which female to male ratio has been increased to 1: 5 and another variety in which only female flowers grow. All you need to do is grow one plant with allfemale flowers and surround it with plants with more of male flowers. Bees and butterflies will do the rest.

This way the yields can be increased substantially, claim company officials. They are also working on early maturing of the plant so that it starts flowering from second year onwards and continues to do so for about 30 years. The plant is sturdy and can grow in any type of soil in rainfed areas.

Indian diet increases diabetes risk

THE connection between diet and metabolic diseases is now well established. Yet very few dietary surveys have been done in India with reference to chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Now Dr. V Mohan - who is spearheading a large ongoing study called the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study ( CURES) has undertaken the first such survey in Chennai. Dietary intake of 2042 individuals was measured using an intervieweradministered questionnaire.

It was found that carbohydrates are the major source of energy ( 64 per cent) followed by fat ( 24 per cent) and protein ( 12 per cent).

Refined cereals such as polished rice contribute to bulk of the energy ( 45.8 per cent) followed by visible fats and oils ( 12.4 per cent) and pulses and legumes ( 7.8 per cent).

However, energy supply from sugar and sweetened beverages was within the recommended levels. Intake of micronutrient- rich foods, such as fruit and vegetable, fish and seafoods was far below recommended level.

A diet rich in refined cereals with low intake of fish, fruit and vegetables is a sure recipe for increased risk of diabetes, says Dr Mohan. Regular dietary surveys need to be done to gauge changes in dietary patterns of Indians.

'Social' ants help study longevity

ANTS are giving mosquitoes competition in hitting the headlines, but for a worthy cause. Scientists have sequenced the genome of two species of ant. They feel that ants are ideal species to study epigenetics - how genes are turned on or off in response to changing conditions rather than altering actual sequences of DNA. Epigenetics determine which genes are expressed in cells and how modifications to gene expression can be passed on to future cell generations. They are particularly interested in how this may influence longevity as it has been seen that often queens live up to ten times longer than worker ants.

" Ants are social creatures and their ability to survive depends on their community much like humans," says Dr. Reinberg from the NYU Cancer Institute, in his research paper in Science . The next step is to start manipulating the genome of ants to study the specific genes related to aging and behaviour.

Smoking bogey

THE tobacco industry is always looking for ways of circumventing bans on tobacco advertising. In 2002, some companies pledged that they would restrict direct advertising on the internet. But now it appears that five brands - Marlboro, Benson and Hedges, Gallagher, Winston and Mild Seven - are posting promotional videos on YouTube.

The Marlboro were the most viewed, with a particular video attracting two million views, according to a paper published in Tobacco Control . Interestingly, some of the videos were classified as ' anti- tobacco'. Most of the videos were of celebrities smoking these brands, which is likely to appeal to young people.

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